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June is Migraine & Headache Awareness Month
June 1 marks the start of the annual Migraine & Headache Awareness Month. Approximately 37 million people in the U.S. experience migraine headaches, and almost half experience poor diagnosis and treatment. Join us in raising awareness and letting others know they are not alone.
Nearly three million Americans suffer from some type of glaucoma, but quite a few of them are not aware of it. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, about half of all glaucoma cases in the United States are never diagnosed among men and women who are 40 years of age and older. Glaucoma is one of the eye conditions that migraine patients should be aware of, particularly those whose blood pressure tends to fall significantly at night.
In the dynamic world of diet fads, gluten-free is the buzzword for 2014. Alas, gluten-free diets are not really designed for weight loss, and people who do not suffer from celiac disease should not attempt cutting off important food products just because they wish to avoid gluten. However, migraine patients who also deal with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease will certainly benefit from gluten-free nutritional habits.
Breastfeeding, one of the most intrinsic biological processes that underscores our place in Nature's class Mammalia, is a topic of intense debate and social discourse. Researchers from Ohio State University conducting a longitudinal study on the positive outcomes of breastfeeding recently found that bottle-fed children show little variance in terms of general health, behavior and cognitive performance when compared to their breastfed peers.
A recent study conducted by epidemiologists at the United States National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute indicates that Hispanic Americans have a high risk of suffering from complications related to high blood pressure conditions left untreated. This large scale study, which evaluated more than 16,000 Hispanic Americans between the ages of 18 and 74, revealed that less than 40 percent of Latinos undergo treatment for high blood pressure.
In the United States, Mother’s Day has been celebrated on the second Sunday of May each year since 1914. In 2014, Mother’s Day falls on May 11th, and special events are being prepared in many communities around the country. For example, in the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia region, picnics, brunches and sightseeing cruises along the Potomac River are traditional Mother’s Day staples.
A comprehensive discussion on the merits and faults of daylights saving time in the United States was recently published on the opinion pages of New York Times. Physicians, economists and business researchers debated the pros and cons of springing forward, a ritual that many physicians feel does more harm than good for patients who suffer from migraine conditions. Narcolepsy is just one of the sleep disorders exacerbated by the change to daylight savings, which is bad news for those who also...
A medical research study published in March 2014 by the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that CT scans and MRI tests ordered by physicians in the United States cost insurance companies nearly $1 billion. Most of these advanced radiological exams were ordered on patients who complained of migraine headaches, and many of them were deemed unnecessary. However, when patients reported transient aphasia symptoms, these diagnostics help to rule out more serious conditions such as...
Neurobiology researchers from Peking University and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania recently published a study on the negative effects of sleep deprivation. They subjected laboratory mice to short and long periods of sleeplessness and then looked at their locus coeruleus, the nerves that interact with cognitive function and control alertness in general. The research findings show that long-term loss of sleep can cause brain damage by diminishing brain cells by...
